Breakfast is Served

by Belgian Waffle

Rating: everyone
Tags: Derpy Hooves, Applejack, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Pinkie Pie
Length: 8110

Rainbow Dash challenges herself to a pancake eating competition.

A small challenge turns into a full blown competition in Ponyville, and Rainbow Dash enters in hopes of proving she can take on any challenge given to her. The challenge: Who can down the most pancakes in one sitting! Can she wolf enough flapjacks to prove she's still the toughest pony in all of Equestria? Bring some extra napkins and find out!

Note: List of characters may be altered as the story goes on, but the category and content rating shall stay the same. Critiques and/or comments are encouraged. Please say something if you can!

Tags: Food, Breakfast, Meal, Pancakes, Apples

Published 2012-01-03 11:41:51 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-12 21:25:33 UTC

First Letter

Dear brother,

I’m sorry for not writing to you earlier. Ever since I moved into Ponyville to open the new restaurant, I lost track of things; which included finding quills to write to you. Luckily I was directed to a shop within town that sells quills and, conveniently, a large amount of sofas. I’m using a quill that I bought from the shop to write you this letter. I’m also sitting on a very comfortable stool I bought from the shop as well!

Anyways, things have been going better than I expected ever since I started working in Ponyville. The ponies here are very welcoming. Unlike Fillydelphia, everyone here is always in a bright mood and they are more than happy enough to shake hooves and say hello. One local pony who works at a pastry shop close to the building went as far as to throw me a welcoming party! I was surprised to have one thrown just for me, but I was even more surprised at the fact that it seemed like the entire town attended!

You’re probably wondering about the shop. Well, I found a vacant building that offered space on the first floor big enough for a small restaurant, and had enough space on the second floor for me to live in. Thanks to the party, I now know that plenty of ponies can fit comfortably inside of the shop and still be offered a seat. They also seem to really like the menu, especially that special iced tea you taught me how to brew. I’ve been receiving a few compliments from a few well-known ponies within town. I even have the mayor stopping by on some mornings to get a cup of coffee!

As you can probably tell, business here is booming!

But aside from the party and the visitations from ponies like the mayor, those still weren’t the most interesting things that has happened here so far. A few days ago, this purple and green baby dragon walked in just a few minutes after I opened up shop to order breakfast. Soon afterwards a rainbow maned pegasus came in and sat near him and started talking to him after she ordered some food as well...

“Twilight was up late last night. She went past her usual bedtime frantically searching for something in her books and wouldn’t tell me what it was.” Spike spoke as he was chewing on a piece of pancake. He swallowed before continuing. “That’s why she’s still asleep. I thought I’d go ahead and grab some breakfast before she woke up to keep digging.”

The sun had creeped over the distant mountains, beginning a new sunny day in Ponyville. Both Spike and Rainbow Dash were sitting in a booth next to the window at the Coffee & Waffles restaurant eating pancakes. Rainbow was listening to Spike’s story while wolfing down her noticeably larger stack.

“Mmm, maybe she’s cramming for a test or something.” Rainbow said while continually stuffing her mouth with more and more pancakes, almost causing a mess. “Man, these pancakes are AWESOME! How do you make this stuff taste so good?”

Belgian Waffle was busy transporting the now clean plates from the back-room to the front and placing them on a rack, ready for any new customers. “Well, I get my batch of syrup straight from Whitetail Woods. That’s one of a few reasons why I brought the shop here instead of Manehattan.” Belgian thinks back to his self-guided tour through Manehattan, and recalls the many corner coffee shops and restaurants all over the city. He knew business there would not be easy with so much competition. And the fact that Whitetail Woods was nearby and had maple trees pouring out maple made it easier to pick which city he was going to open his restaurant.

Rainbow deeply swallowed another mouthful before responding. “Yeah, yeah. But it’s not just the syrup. The whole pancake is delicious. What do you put in them?”

Belgian chuckled. “Secret recipe. I can’t tell you.”

“Geeze Rainbow, you really like those pancakes don’t you?” questioned Spike who was looking quizzically at the strangely enthusiastic pegasus sitting across from him.

“They’re the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted... come to think of it, I can’t remember the last pancake I’ve ever had...” Rainbow thought for a moment before shrugging. “Eh, it doesn’t matter.” Then she stuffed in another mouthful and gleefully chewed on it.

Spike was still giving Rainbow a quizzical look. “You remind me of Pinkie, except you’re not a bottomless pit. You couldn’t stuff as much pancakes down your throat like Pinkie could if you tried.”

At this, Rainbow reflected the same facial expression back to Spike. “You think I couldn’t eat as many pancakes as Pinkie Pie?”

Spike then realized that Rainbow was about to put herself into a challenge; the results of which interested him. “I’d like to see you try.”

Rainbow swallowed hard before putting a hoof forward. “You’re on!”

Spike grabbed the hoof and shook it up and down. As soon as he released it, Rainbow called for Belgian Waffle to bake as many pancakes as he could, and to keep serving her until she ran out of bits to purchase more.

Even though Belgian was working, he overheard their conversation and became worried. “Are you sure about this? I don’t want you stuffing yourself silly over a measly challenge.”

“Hey, I can handle it. I am the toughest pony in all of Equestria!”

Rainbow wasn’t even out of bits before she drastically reduced her speed of pancake consumption. She was cooing at her food and feeling slightly nauseated. Her slightly enlarged and seemingly swelling belly showed that she had reached her limits on food intake and is about to throw in the towel; or napkin for that matter.

“Wow, that was pretty impressive.” Spike said.

“I’ll say!” Belgian agreed. “I think I went through a day’s worth of batter on you.”

Rainbow did not respond. She simply stared at the remaining food sitting on the table in front of her; occasionally closing her eyes hoping that they would just disappear.

“Hey! You gonna finish that?!”

Rainbow quickly opened her eyes and found Pinkie Pie violently smashing her face into the remaining pancakes, gobbling them all up in one swift “munch”.

After Pinkie swallowed, Rainbow perked up and regained her composure. “Hey! Yes, I was gonna finish that.” she yelled at Pinkie. Just as she finished, a wave of nausea washed over her. She hugged her stomach while slightly leaning forward. “Oooohhh.”

“You feeling alright Dashie?” Pinkie said with a worried look on her face.

“She’ll be fine.” Spike reassured Pinkie. ”She took on a challenge saying that she could eat as many pancakes as you.”

“Really? Why would she do that?”

“I guess she wanted to prove that she was still the toughest pony in Equestria.” Spike said while shaking his head at the thought of one pony going so far to keep that title.

“But I thought she was the toughest pony in Equestria? Didn’t she beat Applejack at the Running of the Leaves?”

“No, she tied for last place with Applejack. Remember?” Spike answered her.

“Oh, yeah! Now I remember! We were the announcers for the race. I’ve always wondered why they call it the Running of the ‘Leaves’ when the leaves don’t run? They just fall to the ground.”

Spike put a hand to his face, clearly not wanting the awkward remarks from when Pinkie was in the balloon with him to resurface.

Rainbow’s stomach gurgled, and she placed a hoof over her mouth.

“I remember how you said ketchup would help them both and then I said it wouldn’t help them in a race unless it was a hot dog eating contest where you raced to eat the most amount of hot dogs then yes it would have helped them there. Then I mentioned how I liked mustard on my hot dogs and you said you liked pickles do you still like pickles on your hog dogs?” Pinkie said at a very quick pace under one breath, which left her gasping at the end of her rant.

Spike was about to answer when he realized something. “Wait, you like hot dogs?”

“Yeah-huh! Why do you ask?”

“Aren’t hot dogs made out of meat?”

“Oh... umm, well...” Pinkie sheepishly clopped her hooves together while looking away from Spike.

Spike raised an eyebrow at Pinkie, waiting for an answer.

Rainbow’s stomach gurgled louder and her eyes shot wide open. It wasn’t long now.

“S-so, um. Hey! I have an idea for the challenge!” Pinkie exclaimed, clearly changing the subject. “We could hold a competition in Ponyville for who could eat the most amount of pancakes!” Pinkie gleefully finished, throwing her hooves up in the air at the last word.

Spike wasn’t as enthusiastic at the idea, but soon shrugged off his last assumptions of Pinkie and went along with the new topic. “Yeah, sure I guess. And the pancakes could be made here. Right Belgian?” Spike called out the last two words towards the kitchen, expecting Belgian Waffle to still be eavesdropping.

As a matter of fact, he was. “Sure thing!” He called from the back room. “I will need some help with the cooking though.”

Pinkie raised her hooves like an eager school filly. “Oh! Oh! I could help with cooking! I’m a great cook!”

“Then it’s settled. We’ll hold a competition for who can eat the most amount of pancakes.” Spike proclaimed.

Both Spike and Pinkie were oblivious to the changing facial expressions on Rainbow Dash’s face as they were talking.

Rainbow moved her hoof away from her mouth enough to allow herself to speak. “Guys?”

Both Pinkie and Spike looked at her, surprised that she finally said something after all this time.

Spike spoke up. “What is it?”

“... Uh Oh.”

I stepped out of the kitchen as soon as I heard it. I had to close off the booth they were in so I could clean up the new mess. I thought I’ve seen unique colors in her mane, but I was proven wrong by the time I got to her. Clearly she’s going to need a lot of practice for that competition.

I’m so excited to be hosting such an event. This kind of thing never happens in Filydelphia. It will be occurring in a few days, so I’m hoping that you will be able to make it in town to see it. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I could use the help. I’ll write back to you as soon as I hear how many competitors will be entering.
Hope things are going well back at home, can’t wait to hear from you!

-Belgian Waffle

Author's Note: Oh I'm so happy! My first. Story. EVER! I hope it's not bad, and I hope you guys could provide help on any revisions or changes needed. Criticism is welcome and appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!

Second Letter

Dear Brother,

Ponyville was recently hit with a heat wave due to the amount of clouds the pegasi were unable to produce. Every pony who had to venture outside were seen either drinking something cold along the way, fanning themselves, or magically doing both! It was a good thing I re-stocked on the ingredients for the special tea, because ponies have been buying it like crazy! Ponies have also been enjoying the air conditioning in the restaurant as they have been lounging inside for quite some time. Luckily I never had to ask anypony to leave to make room for the new dehydrated ponies that were constantly dragging themselves through the front door; some literally!

There was one moment when a very elegantly dressed, but also sweaty, white unicorn tried to charm her way into getting more tea for a discount. She’s clearly done something like this before, because she was good at it, but I had to tell her I couldn’t fulfill that request.

Soon, however, I did because I was quite certain that her following level of anger towards me was going to escalate to dangerous heights.

The heat was clearly getting to everypony.

I tried to stayed inside as much as I could that day. You know how I’m not the kind of pony who could handle heat reaching near boiling. I sweat puddles, and I hate it! Unfortunately I did have to venture outside at one point so I could go to Sugarcube Corner and help with the planning of the competition with Pinkie Pie.

After I closed the restaurant, I headed for Pinkie’s shop. But just when I was about to reach the door...

“LOOK OUT!”

“Huh?”

*WHAM*

K.O.!

As Belgian Waffle was gaining consciousness, he felt that he was laying on something very soft and there was a nice breeze flowing past his head. He felt very relaxed at this, and shifted himself into a more comfortable position.

Just as he did, he heard somepony’s voice. Somepony familiar, but his brain is too foggy to recognize who. He slowly opened his eyes half-way, before shooting them open completely at what he saw.

Merely centimeters from his face were a pair of golden-yellow eyes that were staring straight into his soul... and his right ear.

Before he knew it, Belgian found himself flailing his hooves and yelping out surprised. When he sat up, he lost his balance and crashed hard on the floor on the opposite side of the mattress where a pony was standing.

She, too, was frightened by his outburst and reeled back while screaming because of it.

Belgian rubbed his head, where a headache was now forming, before he slowly rose to see a grey-fur, yellow mane, askew eyed mare standing on the other side of the bed; silent but with a shocked expression on her face.

Belgian became worried. “Oh, I’m so sorry for doing that! You kinda surprised me there!"

Her shocked expression was replaced with an apologetic one.“No, No. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have stood too close to your face like that.”

“Oh.” Belgian relaxed a little, but kept rubbing his head as his headache increased. “Well, if you don’t mind me asking. Why were you so close to me?”

“Oh, well I smelled something in the air and followed my nose to the source. That's when my nose came to you! You smell really nice! Like maple syrup!"

Belgian was surprised. He's never received a comment like that before!

She seemed to notice and giggled. "Seems nobody has ever told you that, huh? It's no surprise since you make the best breakfast in town. Same can be said about your muffins! But don’t tell Pinkie!"

Just then, Belgian’s brain un-fogged. He remembers the mare in front of him as the town’s postmaster, Derpy Hooves. He remembers how she would always order a maple syrup flavored muffin whenever she collected his mail in the mornings. He remembers how she would stop by the restaurant sometimes to talk about any weird packages that she may have had to recently deliver...

He also remembers how she was the last pony in his vision before he was knocked unconscious in front of Sugarcube Corner, and was the first one he saw when he woke up in... in... umm.

“Wait a second, where am I? And what happened?” Belgian asked, now noticing where he was.

“You don’t know? This is Pinkie’s room. It’s the second floor of Sugarcube Corner. I brought you in after I accidentally landed on you. I was coming in for a landing, and didn't see how close you were until it was too late. My depth-perception is a little off. Sorry about that.” She looked slightly sheepish telling Belgian that last part.

“Oh. Well, thank you for bringing me inside.” Belgian felt his headache begin to diminish.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t have lasted out in the heat for very long. You were completely soaked in sweat by the time I set you on Pinkie’s bed!”

He felt his headache rise and his face become warm under this embarrassment. He guesses that’s why there were a few towels laying on the foot of the bed. It’s not his fault he perspires more than the average pony.

Pinkie soon made her way upstairs and saw that Belgian was standing next to the bed.

“Oh good, you’re awake!” She said in her usual euphoric attitude. “I started to get super-duper worried after the second week!”

Belgian’s heart-rate increased, accelerating the intensity of his headache. “What?! Second week...? I’ve been asleep for weeks?!”

“About three-and-a-half weeks to be exact. You haven’t budged since!”

This news made him freeze in place; eyes wide in shock, mouth agape. Three weeks?! Was the impact THAT hard?!

“HA! Gotcha!” Pinkie announced with a hoof pointed towards the petrified stallion. She laughed a little before continuing. “You should see the look on your face! I was only kidding! You’ve only been out for nearly an hour.”

Derpy giggled as well.

Belgian finally relaxed, but felt exhausted from this emotional roller coaster these two ponies were giving him. “Good one, you got me.” He said blankly. “Listen, I was originally coming by to help you with the upcoming competition. We have to know how many ponies will be entering so we can see how much batter we will need to make.”

“A competition? What kind of competition?” Derpy asked

“It’s a competition to see who can eat the most amount of pancakes in one sitting.” Belgian responded.

“Ooh, a pancake eating competition?” Derpy asked

“Yep!” The pink party pony responded “Would you like to enter?”

“Oh, I don’t know how many pancakes I think I could eat... muffins on the other hand...”

“Well, we know how much Rainbow Dash could eat. Hopefully she’s training for the competition.” Belgian shook his head at this, remembering the ‘present’ Rainbow left him the last time he saw her.

“Speaking of Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Have any of you guys seen her today?”

“I haven’t.” Derpy replied. “I went by her cloud home to drop off some mail, but it seemed like nopony was in or around it.”

“I haven’t seen her today either.” Belgian inserted. “I usually see her when she’s moving the clouds in the sky, but I guess she...” He stopped talking to glare at something he spotted through the window.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s wrong?”

Belgian looked back at Pinkie. “I bet I know where she is.”

Belgian felt ridiculous walking outside wearing a rainbow colored umbrella hat Pinkie gave him, but it was one of the best methods of keeping the sun’s rays from shining directly toward his cranium.

Though as helpful as it might be, he still can't help but notice other ponies in shade staring at him as he passes them.

Pinkie was walking beside him to his right and Derpy fell behind a little to his left. The trio walked towards Sweet Apple Acres where they spotted, from Sugarcube Corner, a small lonesome cloud hovering above the trees. It seemed to be the only cloud visible from within Ponyville, which got them curious as to why that was. They guessed ‘somepony’ from the Pegasus Weather Patrol might have known where to find one like it at a time like this.

After passing the front gate, they made their way between the apple trees to where they believed the cloud would be. Eventually they found an orange earth pony napping under the plentiful shade of the tree she was lying against, and the cloud hovering some distance above the tree tops. Front legs crossed across her chest with her hat covering the top-half of her face, including her eyes. A few full and empty barrels sitting under nearby trees telling them that she may have taken a break from bucking the apples from the trees.

Pinkie let the orange mare know of their presence. “Hey, Applejack! How's it going?”

“Huh? Wha?” She seemed a little dazed from being rudely awakened from her peaceful day slumber. She adjusted her hat to allow her to behold the assembled group standing in front of her: a brown sweaty stallion wearing a colorful umbrella hat, a grey mare who seems to be glancing into two different directions at the same time, and an energetic pink pony with an ear-to-ear grin on her face.

Applejack simply stared at them.

After a few awkward minutes passed, Belgian broke the silence. "Right... Have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere lately?"

Without looking away, Applejack pointed a hoof upwards towards the levitating cloud. Sure enough, there was a rainbow streaked tail hanging off the edge of it.

“Hey Rainbow, you up there?” Belgian yelled to make sure he was heard by the possibly snoozing pegasus.

The tail hesitantly wagged before disappearing into the cloud. After a bit of shuffling, Rainbow’s head finally popped out of the fluff to look at the crowd that gathered for her.

Pinkie was the first to speak. “Hey Rainbow! How’s it going?”

Rainbow finally responded. “Uhh, hey Pinkie. Did you guys just come from a swim or something?"

Belgian felt ridiculous.

Everypony was resting in the cool shade under the tree and the cloud, including Rainbow Dash. Pinkie, Belgian, and Rainbow explained to Applejack the competition they were planning, including how the idea came to them in the first place.

“So let me get this straight, you an’ Spike came up with the idea of makin’ a competition in Ponyville out of what Dash tried ta do in the restaurant?”

“Mhm!” Pinkie nodded vigorously.

Applejack shook her head. “Well, ah’m not surprised that Rainbow let Spike talk her into a challenge like that. Ah don’t know what got into her mind makin’ her think she could eat as much as you; or me for that matter!”

“Hey!” Dash inserted. “I can understand Pinkie’s abilities, but YOU?! You think you could eat more pancakes than I could?”

“Ah reckon ah could finish off more servings than you could in one sittin’! Who knows, ah could probably win that competition in my sleep!”

“So Applejack, does this mean you’ll enter the competition?” Pinkie asked.

The farm pony thought for a moment before answering. “It does sounds like fun. Sure, why not!”

“Okay, but don’t think that you can win this so easily.” Rainbow retorted.

“Great! So that’s Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Derpy. There’s three competitors right there.” the pink pony announced.

“Why aren’t you competing Pinkie?” A.J. asked.

“I’m helping make the pancakes with Belgian.” The party pony pointed a hoof at Belgian, who was no longer wearing the umbrella hat thanks to the shading.

Derpy, who had been quietly listening to to the group since she didn’t have anything else she needed to do for the afternoon, asked Rainbow a question that was on the back of every other pony’s minds. “Hey Rainbow, where did you find that cloud? There’s not a single one in the sky and yet you have one.”

“Well it all started this morning when I went to gather clouds from the cloud factory.” Rainbow further explained to the group about how the cloud factory was on a shortage and was making very few clouds. A friend of hers that worked at the factory had a favor to owe to Dash, so she was able to use that to receive a cloud. The other clouds that were produced were sent to other places for more important uses. Rainbow then left the factory with her cloud to find a place outside of town to nap on it, and chose a random spot above Sweet Apple Acres to do just that. “Felt like I got a few hours in before you three came by,” she finished.

“Ah saw you bring that cloud here while ah was in the middle of apple buckin’.” A.J. added. “Since ah was ahead on gatherin’ apples, ah thought ah could use a rest from this darn heat as well.”

Most of the trees visible by the group have bucked clean of apples, with a smaller fraction left to do before the sun started setting. A big red stallion was seen in the distance doing his share of work, using only one leg to knock the apples from the trees into the barrels placed on the ground below them.

“Ya know, we could have the competition here at Sweet Apple Acres if ya like. There’s a open plot of land where we had the Sisterhooves Social race. I’m sure a large gatherin’ of ponies could watch from there.”

“That could work,” Belgian responded. “But we still don’t know how many ponies in town will actually be entering.”

Pinkie spotted someone in the distance coming towards them. “Hey guys, look. It’s Spike!”

Sure enough, the purple and green baby dragon was quickly making his way towards the group that were still gathered under the cloud and tree.

He was out of breath from running when he finally arrived. “You guys... I’ve been looking... everywhere for you guys!” he panted. “You guys won’t believe what had happened!”

“What is it?” Rainbow asked.

Everybody was staring at Spike who was still catching his breath, waiting for what he had to say that was so important for him to frantically search for them. Soon he caught his breath and explained what he recently did.

Spike had explained how he took the initiative to sign up any other ponies in town who wanted to take part in the competition. He handed out flyers the day before, and soon had 10 ponies recruited. Spike then apparently ran into one pony who presented himself as the champion of any food or drink competition held in Equestria. Have you ever heard of him? His stage name is Chow Down. He told Spike that he heard of the competition through a flyer that he found, and made is way to Ponyville from Canterlot to survey his competitors before deciding to partake in it.

As silly as that sounds, I could tell from the way Spike described him that he was the real deal. I never saw something like this coming at all, and I don't know how it's going to play out. I guess we'll have to wait until competition day to find out.

We still have training to do, and the girls are probably going to need to train extra-hard to beat whoever this guy is. I've had Spike look him up in any and every book he might be in at the library, so we'll finally know what we're dealing with.

Until then, I will keep you updated on anything that happens.

Your sweaty little brother,
-Belgian Waffle

P.S. If you find muffin crumbs in your letters, let me know so I can deal with it.

Third Letter (1/2)

Dear Brother,

I received your letter. It’s good to be hearing from you for once!

Thank you for reminding me about the annual City Founding Celebration in Fillydelphia. I totally forgot about it! It ends in three days and I have to attend this year.

I know it seems odd for me to drop my work to go to a celebration in a different city, but I can’t resist. This year, they’ve introduced the Equestrian food market section, where ponies from all over Equestria will gather to sell and trade their recipes. Think of the many recipes I could bring back to the shop here in Ponyville. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something that everypony here would love to try.

I wish we could have set-up a booth at the market, but I guess we were late to the party. Maybe we could consider joining next year’s festival. I’m sure we have some recipes we could sell.

Anyways, I’m packing my things as I write this letter. I will be departing on the train Wednesday morning at 7:25 a.m. and will arrive late in the afternoon, same-day. Hopefully this letter arrived at an early enough date for you to get ready for my arrival.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about Rainbow Dash and Spike and the others who are preparing for the competition, I made sure they got enough batter to last a good training session or three. They need to step-up their game now to get first place, so I supplied enough for them to not run out before I return. Pinkie said she will pay me back when I return.

I can’t wait to see you all!

Your eager brother,
-Belgian Waffle

Within the kitchen of the wooden house at Sweet Apple Acres, a unique aroma of cooked batter and a hint of sweet maple wafted through the air instead of the usual smell of apples. An added hissing noise echoing down the hallways from the kitchen altogether signified somepony was cooking breakfast. Inside the kitchen, a cotton-candy mane pony was at the stove carefully and professionally flipping many flapjacks from multiple cooking pans. The pink pony was sporting a white apron hung from her neck, a comically oversized toque on her head, and three spatulas to help expedite the cooking; one Velcro-ed to each fore-hoof, and one maneuvered via her mouth.

With each pancake Pinkie thought was cooked long enough, she flipped them off the pan behind her for it to be caught by Spike. She would then pour more batter onto the vacant pan (spitting out the spatula before chomping on the mixing bowl).

Every launched pancake that landed on a plate held by the baby dragon was served to two pony friends who were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were scarfing down the contents of each new plate given to them in heavier-than-normal doses. Their main goal on training now was not only to win the competition, but also beat Equestria’s 6 time watermelon eating, 9 time milk chugging, 14 time culinary cooking champion, Chow Down. The extended list of food and drink related awards listed in books found in Twilight’s library showed them that this stallion was no joke in this situation.

The girls trained harder because of how they learned of the new competitor’s seriousness on beating everypony at Equestria’s first pancake eating competition. Neither wanted to be shown up by some pony from out of town, again. So Pinkie Pie, Spike, AJ, and RD planned to train every morning for the competition with as much batter Belgian Waffle could provide while he was out of town.

Both ponies at the kitchen table continued finishing off the stacks on each new plate served to them; all while never seeming to take their eyes off of each other. Even though they were training hard for the upcoming competition, they were currently fixed on trying to out-do each other in eating the most amount of food. It all started when Applejack joked on how she was so hungry she could clear a large amount of apples from a few apple trees. Rainbow Dash then stated how she was so hungry she could clear an entire field of apples. Applejack then recalled how Rainbow Dash couldn’t even finish off all of the pancakes in a little dare back at the restaurant.

Both went back and forward until the conversation transitioned into more of an argument. By the time the first plate of pancakes was served, they drilled into them in an effort to prove what they said about how hungry they were to be true.

The feeding frenzy continued between the two ponies, and Spike was able to notice their consumption rate increasing as empty plates were returned back to him more and more frequently. These, plus having to catch the flying flapjacks, made his job unnecessarily difficult. In an attempt to calm the situation, Spike asks, “Uhh, don’t you two think you’re taking this a little too seriously? I mean, I wouldn’t want a guy like that to beat me in a competition either, but--”

“Less talk, more pancakes!” Rainbow interrupted Spike, while giving him yet another empty plate.

Spike simply grumbled, then frantically positioned himself to catch another hotcake that was sent into the air by the pink culinary chef pony.

“What’sa matter, afraid to lose?” mocked the orange country earth pony, before returning to gobbling up her meal.

Rainbow gave some time to masticate the rest of the food in her mouth before swallowing and responding, “Ha, you wish! I’m totally finishing off more plates than you.”

Pinkie continued to pour, flip, and eject as many pancakes as her three spatulas could muster. “Shpike,” she asked with a spatula still in her mouth. “We need more pancaksh. Shink you can grab a bag and mix ano-er batch?” (Translation: “Spike, we need more pancakes. Think you can grab a bag and mix another batch?”)

“I’m on it!” Spike responded while saluting. He then made his way past the ravenous pair to the location of the bags of batter Belgian left for them to use. Spike stopped halfway once he saw that a huge heap of empty bags stacked on top of each other replaced what used to be an entire wall lined with large bags.

We couldn’t have used them all up that fast… could we?

After staring a few seconds more, Spike bolted straight for the pile, uncovering layer upon layer of flat empty bags of what used to be stuffed with batter that should have lasted a minimum of at least three days. He hoped there was still some bags left under here, there just had to be.

Back at the table: “That ain’t true. Look, I already finished off mah pile.” Applejack pointed to the stack of now-empty plates for the still chewing Rainbow Dash to observe.

Rainbow didn’t glance until she had finished off her mouthful. She painfully swallowed the large morsel to attempt to finish quickly. “So did I,” she replied, waving her hoof to her collection of empty plates on her side of the table. “Stop acting like you’re gonna win the competition. Just because you eat, sleep, and breathe apples everyday doesn’t mean you’ll be ready to take on more pancakes than everypony else.”

“Sure it does,” Applejack retorted. “All those years of apples gave me plenty of room to eat every pancake given to me so far, and still have plenty of room for more.”

Given the amount they both have already consumed and the slight fullness starting to settle in, Rainbow felt a little intimidated. Still she kept her poker face. She figures AJ is bluffing, but doesn’t know for sure. Running out of comebacks to throw, Rainbow went for insults. “Well, I’m sure you gained more than just room from eating all those apples.”

“… I beg your pardon?”

Spike’s iris shrunk slightly when he finally reached the bottom of the pile, to the white dusted floor beneath the mess. He couldn’t fathom how they had finished off every bag this quickly. He also wonders how he’s going to break the news to the others.

Rainbow continued. “I mean, for a pony who’s taste tested so many different apple flavored recipes, you’ve probably gained plenty of ‘stuff’ to be able to beat every other pony.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes at the blue Pegasus sitting across from her. “Are you implying somethin?”

Rainbow ignored and pressed dangerously further. “Being able to beat somepony like Chow Down would be quite interesting to see,” she stated. She looked as if she were pondering her thoughts. “Think of how much ‘stuff’ he has. How much weight do you think all that ‘stuff’ adds up to?”

Coming to a realization with what ‘stuff’ Rainbow might be talking about, a small fuse connected to Applejack’s cerebellum just ignited. The farm pony narrowed her eyes and said gently, “I’d stop that if I were you.”

Pinkie, who has been waiting for Spike to return with another batch of batter to be poured, began to get impatient. “Spike, what’s taking ya?” She asked, with the spatula finally out of her mouth.

Spike made his way back to Pinkie. “Uhh, Pinkie, when did Belgian drop those bags off?”

“Yesterday, why?”

“Well... umm...” Spike fiddled with his claws to try and figure out a way to tell Pinkie.

Back at the table: “What? A few days ago you said you could beat everypony at the competition without even trying. Not everypony could do something like that so easily… or at least, not somepony without the ‘stuff’ to handle it.”

“Did ya hear me? I said quit it before somepony gets hurt.” Applejack looked on the verge of sending the pegasus to the ER if she didn’t stop making comments about, what she assumed to be, her weight.

Pinkie raised an eyebrow at the purple dragon, before realizing what he may be trying to tell her. She trotted over to the other side of the room where the bags laid scattered all across the kitchen floor. “Oh... I see.”

“Oh, so now you’re not so sure you can win it?”

“Ah never said that, ah just asked for you to shut yer trap before I do it for you.”

“Ok, ok, I’ll stop.”

“Thank ya.”

Pinkie and Spike looked at each other, and then back at the pile, not knowing what to do now that they didn’t have any more batter. At least they were able to think more clearly of what to plan now that the farm and pegasus ponies were done arguing.

“So, what are we going to do?” Spike asked Pinkie.

“I’m not sure,” Pinkie responded. “Maybe we’ll just have to wait for Belgian to get back.”

“Well, why don’t we try something while he’s gone. I’m sure we can do something.” Spike rubbed his chin in thought of what to do next. “Don’t you have batter at Sugarcube Corner?”

“The batter there are for cakes and cupcakes, and I don’t think there would be enough for us to train with anyways; especially with how fast we seem to be going through them.”

“We could find a place within Ponyville that makes or sells batter. I’m sure Belgian’s restaurant isn’t the only place that makes pancake batter, right?”

Both could hear Rainbow starting to talk to Applejack again, but ignored her to continue their conversation.

Pinkie gave it a thought before she replied. “You know what, you’re right! And I know a few places that might have som-”

“THAT’S IT!”

Pinkie was cut off by Applejack, who had finally snapped. Both Pinkie and Spike turned quickly to see an orange blur leap across the table and knock a startled Rainbow Dash out of her chair.

Today was much cooler in comparison to yesterday. The cloud factory kicked back into operation overnight and the factory workers pumped out extra clouds today to make up for the amount of sun everypony received yesterday. The clouds hovering over Ponyville covered about 50% of the sky, causing cloud shadows to linger for long periods and allowing certain areas in town to become 20% cooler. There was even a certain gust of wind blowing through the town throughout the day.

“If the factory continues at this rate, I’m sure there will be rain by tomorrow,” Spike said, noticing the drastic weather change compared to the days before. He was walking through town in the opposite direction from one of his previous locations of that day, Sweet Apple Acres. The location of which he assisted in serving pancakes. The location of which he first saw Pinkie use more than two spatulas at once. The location of which everypony used up all bags of batter too fast. The location of where Applejack injured Rainbow Dash’s wing, grounding her for the rest of the day.

The fight and injury left the cyan pegasus in a crabby mood for a while, but she soon acted like it was normal and continued her day like it never even happened. She was used to injuries to certain parts of her body, like her wings, due to stunts she would often pull off while flying, but having them end up not working out as planned. Another sprained wing, another bandage wrapped around it, and another send-off from Nurse Redheart with an added “just keep off of it for a while.”

Pinkie had followed along with Spike and Rainbow Dash for the entire journey from Sweet Apple Acres, to Ponyville Hospital, to the next destination the trio planned to hit, which was the Clover Café.

Soon the green building with a three-leaf clover painted on a hanging sign outside appeared in view. A few ponies were seen outside the café sitting on small bundles of hay stacks placed around round tables. They were eating and conversing with each other. A waiter with shiny navy blue mane and tail and a cream color coat is seen moving from table to table, serving the ponies at the restaurant.

The three made it to the front of the shop, and Pinkie tried to flag down the itinerant waiter.

“Excuse me sir?” she said to him as he walked passed them, and kept going until he reached a table with two ponies occupying them. After a few minutes, he turned around to make another pass in front of the group. Pinkie tried getting his attention again. “Excusemesirweneedyour… help.” She couldn’t get it out fast enough. He just continued toward another table to take their orders.

“Let me try,” Rainbow said, taking a few steps forward of Pinkie and Spike.

After the server finished with their order, he turned around to go into the café and ring up the orders, which also involved walking past the group that had waited long enough to get his attention.

Right as he was passing, Rainbow tried her best to get his attention. “HEY, CAPTAIN OBLIVIOUS! OVER HERE!”

Many heads in and around the restaurant had turned to face the small group. One of those heads included the waiter, who seemed to notice them for the first time.

“Oh! Many apologies,” apologized the waiter. “Please be seated and I will assist you momentarily.”

The three took a seat at the nearest table to them. After a few beats, the waiter emerged out of the restaurant and went directly to their table. The stallion’s mane was shiny to the point that one could almost see their own reflection out of it. He also wore a pencil moustache, and spoke in a very strong ‘fancy’ accent.

(Spoken in ‘fancy’ accent) “Welcome to zé Clover Café. My name is Horte Cuisine, and I will be your waite’u for zis’ evening. Would you like to start with zé appetize’u?”

“No thanks,” Pinkie said. “We’re actually here to see if you serve any pancakes. We’re training for a competition that’s coming in a few days.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t serve breakfast afte’u ten-theu’ty a.m.”

“Oh. Well then, can we borrow any batches of batter you may have in the kitchen so we can make some?”

Horte raised an eyebrow at Pinkie.

“Oh come on,” Rainbow said. “You’ve got to have some back there.”

“We are low on batte’uh until tomorrow morning, and we cannot simply serve batte’uh to clientèle.”

“Why not? I don’t see why you can’t. Belgian got a huge amount of batter for us from his shop to use.”

“You mean Belgian of ze Coffee and Waffles restaurant? His restaurant serves breakfast all day everyday, which means he has a larg’eu supply of batte’uh.”

“Um, do you think you could speak normally?” Pinkie asked. “It’s getting harder to read your accent.”

Spike and Rainbow Dash joined the waiter in raising an eyebrow at Pinkie.

“Excusez-moi?”

“Uh, just ignore her, she’s just being Pinkie.” Rainbow waved a dismissive hoof towards Pinkie. “And you know what, forget about your batter. We’ll just find another place that serves batter.”

The waiter shrugged and said, “Suit yourselves,” before leaving to attend to another new group of ponies who had seated themselves at a table not too far from the three.

“So, now what?” Spike asked. “Will we have to wait until Belgian comes back until we can train again?”

“I guess so,” Pinkie answered. “Seeing that Rainbow and Applejack can go through two days worth of batter in a few hours would mean that we would deprive this place of all their batter in just a few minutes; which, might I add, is very impressive Rainbow!”

“Thanks!” Rainbow said as she gave a confident smile. “I do my best to stay the best!”

Another voice then entered the conversation. “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help but hear that you were training for an upcoming food competition?”

All three heads turned to look at the source of the new voice. Standing next to their table was a large male earth pony; not large in height, but in width. He had a pine green colored coat and a dark grey mane. He was quite pudgy around his chest area and cheeks, and he had a dinner plate that adorned his flank.

Spike remembers this pony. “Hey, you’re Chow Down. I remember when you came to me a few days ago about wanting to be in the pancake eating competition.”

“Ah, yes, I remember. You’re that kid I bumped into handing out the flyers.”

“Hey, I’m no kid!” Spike puffed out his chest and placed a fist on it in an attempt to exaggerate his manliness. Rainbow and Pinkie rolled their eyes.

Chow Down continued. “Right... So, I hear you’ll be competing in the competition as well.”

Pinkie answered. “We sure are! Well, I mean, I’m not. But she is!” She pointed a hoof at Rainbow.

Rainbow studied how much ‘stuff’ this pony had in him. He sure did look like somepony who could finish three complete meals in one sitting, which means he could be a good challenge for the blue pegasus. “Sure am. I’ve heard a lot about you. You sure do sound like somepony who could compete and win in anything food related.”

“I always do,” He said matter-of-factly while polishing a hoof on his chest. “I’ve never lost to any food related competition I’ve entered. That includes any eating, drinking, culinary cooking, and judging competitions.”

Pinkie gave a confused look. “Judging? There’s a competition on ponies who can judge food?”

“Yes. You sample the food, rate them, and try to taste what ingredients were used in the recipes. City fairs couldn’t even keep me from guessing correctly in what secret ingredient they put in their deep-fried foods.”

“What do they use?”

“I don’t think you’re ready to know that yet.”

Rainbow then asked Chow a question before the current conversation made her forget. “Hey Chow, would you know of any place around Ponyville that makes a lot of pancakes? I need to keep training so I’m ready to win.”

“Well, well. You seem to be a pony with plenty of confidence in herself.” Chow gave a confident smirk. “But I’m afraid I don’t think you really know what you’re up against.”

Rainbow felt the intimidation kick in by that last sentence. “Oh yeah? What makes a pony with more ‘stuff’ than I do think that they’ll win? I don’t think you know what you’re up against.” Rainbow pointed at the large pony when she said “you.”

“Well, then we’ll all see when the competition comes, now won’t we?”

“We sure will. I can’t wait to rub it in everypony’s face once I win!”

“Then may the best pony win.” Chow turned to walk away, but then stopped to say something. “Oh, and one more thing. You should consider training with other foods instead of just pancakes.”

Rainbow looked at him as he trotted away, confused as to why her main competitor gave her advice on how to train.

“Huh, never thought of that,” Pinkie said. “What kind of food do you think we could train with?”

“It would have to be a food that Ponyville is in abundance of so we can use as much as we can before Belgian gets back.”

Just then, an idea of what kind of food Rainbow could use popped in her head. But she dreaded having to talk to the pony that has them. “Uhh, I think I know.”

“You do? what?” Pinkie asked.

Rainbow gave it a thought on if she should really be talking with the food’s caretaker after the ordeal they had with her earlier. Then she continued anyways.

“Apples.”